Why A Reporter's Prank Call To David Koch Is No Laughing Matter

Mary
Bottari is the Director of the Center's Real Economy
Project and the Editor of the BanksterUSA site for bank
busting activists.

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Embattled Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker came
under fire this week after news broke about statements he made in
a 20-minute phone call from a Buffalo-area alternative news
reporter, Ian Murphy of the Buffalo Beast, posing as David Koch, a
billionaire whose corporate PAC directly supported Walker and who
has given millions to groups that have run ads to aid Walker's
rise to the state's highest office. (Listen to the call here.)

As the Center for Media and Democracy has
reported, the Koch PAC not only spent $43,000 directly on
Walker's race, but Koch personally donated $1 million to the
Republican
Governors Association which spent $5 million in the state.
Besides the Governor, the Koch brothers have other "vested interests" in
the state.

They include Koch Pipeline Company, which operates a pipeline
system that crosses Wisconsin. It also owns Flint Hill Resources,
which distributes refined fuel through pipelines and terminals in
Junction City, Waupun, Madison and Milwaukee. Koch Industries
also owns the C. Reiss Coal Company, a power plant company
located in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan.

The Koch company opened a lobby shop in Wisconsin two days after
Walker was elected. Many protesters have suspected that the
"budget repair bill" provisions allowing the no-bid sell-off of
any state-owned heating, cooling, or power plant, plus new rules
on pipeline transport may be of interest to Koch. The company has
denied any interest in these assets.

Pink Slips as Poker Chips Raises Legal Concerns

At the start of the call, Walker eagerly reports on all he is
doing: First, he tells the fake Koch brother about a plan to
change Senate rules on pay to reel-in the out-of state Democratic
senators who are holding out to protect collective bargaining.
The new rule would force the Senators to pick up their paychecks
in person. This rule was passed in a partisan vote in the Senate
yesterday -- a move that went unnoticed by the mainstream press.
The fake Koch asks Walker how they might get others in Senate to
vote to stop collective bargaining. Walker responds that he's
involved the Justice Department in investigating whether the
union is paying the absent Democratic senators to remain out of
state, or providing them with food, shelter, etc., saying it
would be an ethics violation or potentially a felony. Wisconsin
legislators are well aware of these rules and have already stated
they are using their own money while they are out of state.

But the Governor also explains how he is going to lay off
thousands of Wisconsin workers as a tactic to get the Democrats
to cooperate: "So, we're trying about four or five different
angles. Each day we crank up a little bit more pressure. The
other thing is I've got layoff notices ready, we put out the
at-risk notices, we'll announce Thursday, they'll go out early
next week and we'll probably get five to six thousand state
workers will get at-risk notices for layoffs. We might ratchet
that up a little bit too."

The move has been called "despicable" and "ruthless " and
"sickening." But most importantly, if Walker is choosing to lay
off workers as a political tactic when he wasn't otherwise
planning to do so, then it is not just morally repugnant, but
legally questionable. State and federal contract and labor law
has protections against this type of abusive behavior and
inappropriate quid pro quo.

This morning the Capital
Times quotes the state's former Attorney General: "There
clearly are potential ethics violations, and there are potential
election-law violations and there are a lot of what look to me
like labor-law violations," said Peg Lautenschlager, a Democrat
who served as Wisconsin's Attorney General after serving for many
years as a U.S. Attorney. The head of the state teacher's
association, Mary Bell, reminds us: "He literally planned to use
five to six thousand hardworking Wisconsin taxpayers as political
pawns in his political game. He actually thought through a
strategy to lay people off -- deny them the ability to feed their
families -- and use it as leverage for his political goals."

Kids and Hired Thugs

Walker also says he considered then rejected the idea of hiring
trouble makers to disrupt the rallies, which have been packed
with elementary school children and highs schoolers. When fake
Koch says "We'll back you any way we can. But what we were
thinking about the crowd was, uh, was planting some
troublemakers." Walker says: "we thought about that," but he
rejected the idea in case it back-fired, but not in the way one
might think. He didn't want to "scare the public into thinking
maybe the governor as to settle to avoid all these problems."

Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said Thursday "very unsettling
and troubling." "I would like to hear more of an explanation from
Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to
what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members. I find it
very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating
safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers," the
chief said.

Wisconsin Ethics Rules

Wisconsin has the toughest ethics law in the nation. Public
officials are prohibited from soliciting or receiving anything of
value if it could reasonably be expected to influence or reward
official actions. The rules against "pay-to-play politics" say a
public official is prohibited from taking official action in
exchange for political contributions, or anything else of value
for the benefit of a candidate, political party, or any person
making certain candidate-related communications. You can't even
take a cup of coffee from a lobbyist.

Earlier in the call, Walker had asked the fake Koch for help
"spreading the word," especially in the "swing" districts, in
defense of his determination to break the unions, and help get
calls in to shore up his Republican allies in the legislature.
Walker benefited from a high-dollar "issue ad" campaign by groups
funded by Koch group before the election. Americans for
Prosperity, which Koch chairs, also promoted and funded a
couple thousand counter-protestors last Saturday.

On the same day that the scandal broke here in Wisconsin,
Americans for Prosperity went up with a $342,000 TV ad
campaign in support of Walker –- an enormous sum in a state
like Wisconsin. If such ads are effectively coordinated with the
Governor's office, they may be subject to rules requiring greater
disclosure of expenditures and contributors.

Toward the end of the call, the fake Koch offers to fly Walker
out to California, after they "crush the bastards," and show him
"a good time," to which Walker responds enthusiastically, "All
right, that would be outstanding." But,Wisconsin rules bar state
officials from taking action for something of value. After Walker
agrees to the junket, the fake Koch adds, "And, you know, we have
a little bit of a vested interest as well" to which Walker
responds, "Well that's just it."

Conclusion

So while Walker did not apparently not recognize Koch's voice, he
certainly recognized his name, eagerly recounting his efforts to
crush collective bargaining in Wisconsin to an out-of-state
billionaire backer and thanking him for all Koch had done for
him. The entire conversation raises ethical concerns that warrant
much closer examination, especially with Wisconsin's tough
pay-to-play rules. A week ago the Center for Media and Democracy
filed an open records request for the Governor's phone records,
email records, and other communications. Perhaps these records
will help us understand all the influences behind the Governor's
recent radical actions.

Wisconsin is not Illinois; it has a reputation for being a
squeaky clean state where lesser scandals than this have brought
down political officials. Governor Walker likes to complain of
"outside agitators." It's hard to imagine an outside agitator
with more influence and money than the Koch-family.